Judge Delays Seating On Dania Board

A Broward Circuit Court judge on Friday delayed ruling on a request for a court order to seat two people on the Dania Housing Authority.

Judge Geoffrey Cohen gave attorneys for the authority and the appointees a week to submit additional material. Cohen said he would rule afterward.

Gloria Daly and Pat Davis had been appointed to the authority`s board of directors in November by Mayor Charles McElyea.

But the board refused to seat them even though they had been given proper credentials from the city clerk, attorney Tim Ryan said at a court hearing on Friday.

The attorney for the authority, Lloyd Silverman, said state law requires appointments made by a mayor be approved by a city commission. McElyea did not obtain the City Commission`s approval when he first made the appointments, Silverman said.

In response, Ryan said no one on the commission objected to the mayor`s appointments. Later, the commission approved them, Ryan said.

But the mayor should not have made the appointments because he had a financial interest in the housing authority`s actions, Silverman said.

McElyea`s daughter owns a home which he had wanted to rent out under the authority`s housing assistance program, authority executive director Nancy Preusz said.